Call Your Lawmaker!

The House Government Operations Committee is currently considering H.684 – an act relating to professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation. Among other things, H.684 proposes to remove the requirement for written practice guidelines and transition to practice requirements currently in place for new APRN graduates. The Vermont Nurse Practitioner Association supports this proposal and has testified in support of the bill. Please take a moment to call or email your representatives and ask them to vote yes on the proposed changes. You can contact dwachtel@med.uvm.edu or call 802-355-5845 for additional information.

How to Call Your Lawmaker

There are two ways to call a Vermont legislator –

1. Call your legislator’s home phone directly 

Legislators are used to having constituents call on their home phones. The best time to call is on the weekend or Monday but anytime will work. To find their phone numbers, you can click on the link below to access a “Find A Lawmaker” directory. You can search by “name” or “town”. Pick “town” and find your town on the list and search for the representatives and senators from your town. Then you can click on their names and it lists their home phone number. Follow the script below if you have to leave a message.

Please click here for the directory: Find A Legislator 

1. Call the Sergeant at Arms Office at the State House and leave a message.

The Vermont Sergeant at Arms Office at the State House can be reached at 802-828-2228 Monday-Friday from 8:30 am-4:30 pm. When you call, someone at the switchboard will take your message, which will be delivered directly to the legislator. Be prepared to identify yourself, who you are leaving a message for, which bill you are calling about, and what your position is. Your legislator will call you back.

Script – When leaving a message (whether on a lawmaker’s home answering machine or the switchboard at the Sergeant at Arms office):

Hi, my name is _______________ and I am calling from ____________ (your town). I’d like to leave a message for Representative ____________. I am a constituent. I am calling in support of the OPR bill, specifically the section that removes the transition to practice requirements for APRNs. Please call me back so I can explain why. My phone number is ______________.